2:29 AM
Selling photographs online has become huge business in recent years digital SLRs keep getting cheaper and the images they produce keep getting better. It appears everyone on the planet must own a camera by this point. Given the recurring financial crises of the last couple of years, it is not surprising that more camera owners are interested in selling photography online for some additional cash.
For professional photographers making an attempt to get by selling photography online all this additional competition from the hobbyists has made life pretty hard. Hundreds of websites have sprung up offering photographers the ability to give their work away for nothing more than loose change and the thrill of making a sale. The market has been flooded with inexpensive images and many photo buyers have come to view stock photography as yet another commodity to be sourced at the lowest possible price.
It isn't all bad news though. In lots of ways we've now come the full circle, and a growing number of photography buyers are showing a renewed interest in features aside from price alone. For the smart photographer, this offers a way to stand proud of the crowd and define a niche of their own.
Specialized Content:
There's actually such a thing as too much choice, and expert photography buyers have had enough of the massive stock libraries with millions of pictures. Many of the photography buyers we speak to are always looking for new collections that concentrate on their interests, and will cheerfully search 4-5 specialist libraries rather than one mega collection.
Most stock photography articles will tell you to start by applying to the 4-5 largest stock libraries for the maximum exposure but that is only half of the story. Those sites might get the most exposure, but that doesn't always mean you will get a share of it.
Instead of joining millions of other photographers at the 'big-four ' stock libraries, you'll do miles better to find 3-4 boutique stock libraries that you can submit to. Pick one photography stock agency as your principal net presence and use the others to repost your content (photographic and written) and add substance to your net footprint.
Original Content:
If you look around, you will find a heap of 'experts ' who'll tell you the fastest way to make money with microstock is to look at the pictures that sell best on the major libraries, and copy them. It's fairly likely this could work for a while, but you only need to see the mass of poor photos of popular subjects to understand why photography buyers are tired of it.
Far better that you adopt a Client-centric approach and think about your end user, who they may be and what they actually need the stock photos for so you can then set about producing images they can use.
The best thing about this approach is, you can still check the major libraries to see what's selling, but then, instead of simply duplicating what you see, you can identify the stories and concepts that the photo buyers need associated with the subjects, and from there create something unique and new that you know your buyers will need..
Personal Service:
In a business where the photo buyers were always racing to meet impossible deadlines, instant downloads must have seemed a God-send for a bit.
As one of the few stock photo agencies that didn't offer immediate downloads, we certainly felt the pressure when we started out. We soon realised though that the photography buyer's top concern was to 'find the image ' and so long as a reliable delivery followed, 'instant ' wasn't actually an issue.
In fact, photo buyers are creative people who enjoy interacting with other creative people. Nowadays we're still finding lots of high-end photo buyers who are pleased to take a little more time and revel in the 'photo research ' journey, dealing one on one with the photographers, as long as it's professional and efficient.
So however and wherever you opt to sell stock photos, ensure you make yourself available to photography buyers. They'll appreciate it and once the link is made, they'll come back to you time and time again.
Value Your Work & Your Time
When you approach stock photography on this principle, you're actually positioning yourself as a high-end photographer, which helps you stand out from the crowd even further.
Without going into the whole rights-managed vs royalty-free debate, there are millions of photographers online nowadays queueing up to give their work away for peanuts, so it you follow the crowd you will be facing huge competition for the smallest of returns.
By comparison, the rights-managed market is a lot less competitive and pays considerably more, so if you've got the prime quality , original content, then it makes complete sense to cut out your own niche there instead. Specialist photographers have always prospered and in the existing market place it's more crucial than ever that you focus on doing a couple of things remarkably well to sell photography online.
When you specialise your work interests, you narrow your market and you're able to truly begin to know your customers. This in turn allows you to understand their wants and create the high quality unique content that will make you stand out from the crowd. And if you then back every sales lead with remarkable personal service, you'll soon build a Client list which will come to rely on you as a creative partner they want to deal with.
For professional photographers making an attempt to get by selling photography online all this additional competition from the hobbyists has made life pretty hard. Hundreds of websites have sprung up offering photographers the ability to give their work away for nothing more than loose change and the thrill of making a sale. The market has been flooded with inexpensive images and many photo buyers have come to view stock photography as yet another commodity to be sourced at the lowest possible price.
It isn't all bad news though. In lots of ways we've now come the full circle, and a growing number of photography buyers are showing a renewed interest in features aside from price alone. For the smart photographer, this offers a way to stand proud of the crowd and define a niche of their own.
Specialized Content:
There's actually such a thing as too much choice, and expert photography buyers have had enough of the massive stock libraries with millions of pictures. Many of the photography buyers we speak to are always looking for new collections that concentrate on their interests, and will cheerfully search 4-5 specialist libraries rather than one mega collection.
Most stock photography articles will tell you to start by applying to the 4-5 largest stock libraries for the maximum exposure but that is only half of the story. Those sites might get the most exposure, but that doesn't always mean you will get a share of it.
Instead of joining millions of other photographers at the 'big-four ' stock libraries, you'll do miles better to find 3-4 boutique stock libraries that you can submit to. Pick one photography stock agency as your principal net presence and use the others to repost your content (photographic and written) and add substance to your net footprint.
Original Content:
If you look around, you will find a heap of 'experts ' who'll tell you the fastest way to make money with microstock is to look at the pictures that sell best on the major libraries, and copy them. It's fairly likely this could work for a while, but you only need to see the mass of poor photos of popular subjects to understand why photography buyers are tired of it.
Far better that you adopt a Client-centric approach and think about your end user, who they may be and what they actually need the stock photos for so you can then set about producing images they can use.
The best thing about this approach is, you can still check the major libraries to see what's selling, but then, instead of simply duplicating what you see, you can identify the stories and concepts that the photo buyers need associated with the subjects, and from there create something unique and new that you know your buyers will need..
Personal Service:
In a business where the photo buyers were always racing to meet impossible deadlines, instant downloads must have seemed a God-send for a bit.
As one of the few stock photo agencies that didn't offer immediate downloads, we certainly felt the pressure when we started out. We soon realised though that the photography buyer's top concern was to 'find the image ' and so long as a reliable delivery followed, 'instant ' wasn't actually an issue.
In fact, photo buyers are creative people who enjoy interacting with other creative people. Nowadays we're still finding lots of high-end photo buyers who are pleased to take a little more time and revel in the 'photo research ' journey, dealing one on one with the photographers, as long as it's professional and efficient.
So however and wherever you opt to sell stock photos, ensure you make yourself available to photography buyers. They'll appreciate it and once the link is made, they'll come back to you time and time again.
Value Your Work & Your Time
When you approach stock photography on this principle, you're actually positioning yourself as a high-end photographer, which helps you stand out from the crowd even further.
Without going into the whole rights-managed vs royalty-free debate, there are millions of photographers online nowadays queueing up to give their work away for peanuts, so it you follow the crowd you will be facing huge competition for the smallest of returns.
By comparison, the rights-managed market is a lot less competitive and pays considerably more, so if you've got the prime quality , original content, then it makes complete sense to cut out your own niche there instead. Specialist photographers have always prospered and in the existing market place it's more crucial than ever that you focus on doing a couple of things remarkably well to sell photography online.
When you specialise your work interests, you narrow your market and you're able to truly begin to know your customers. This in turn allows you to understand their wants and create the high quality unique content that will make you stand out from the crowd. And if you then back every sales lead with remarkable personal service, you'll soon build a Client list which will come to rely on you as a creative partner they want to deal with.
About the Author:
Matt Brading recommends selling photographs online using a co-operative photo stock agency, such as GlobalEye Images. You can find out more and download a free stock photography business kit. Matt also sells his digital stock photography through OzImages, the original direct-contact stock photo library.
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